WORLD

07:1007 November 2019

Qualcomm's 5G phone forecast for 2020 could include iPhones

Qualcomm Inc said on Wednesday it expected 200 million 5G smartphones to be sold in 2020, including flagship devices launching next fall, a reference Wall Street took as a hint that Apple Inc would offer the faster technology next year, APA rpeorts quoting Reuters.

Next-generation 5G smartphones are expected to make tasks like watching videos or playing games on mobile networks as good as or better than on a Wi-Fi connection.

Once 5G networks are widely available sometime next year, Qualcomm, the world’s largest supplier of mobile phone chips, and its rivals stand to benefit because the phones will require more chips to gain the speed boost.

Apple, a Qualcomm client, has not said when it will launch 5G. But Qualcomm Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala said on an investor call there would be “two inflection points” for 5G chips next year.

One would be in the spring, when firms like Samsung and several Chinese handset makers tend to introduce new phones. “The second inflection point will be in the fall time frame, when another set of flagship devices will adopt 5G,” Palkhiwala said.

Fall is when Apple and Alphabet Inc launch new models, and Kinngai Chan of Summit Insights Group said he expected Apple to adopt Qualcomm’s 5G modem chip for some those devices.